Thursday, May 24, 2007

A couple of months ago my friend Betsy emailed me to let me know that she would be attending a conference in Toronto this week and was I available for a visit. I checked the calendar (not that I had anything planned) and saw that last weekend was Victoria Day. Excellent, her visit was to coincide with a long weekend. (What works great for Betsy is she gets two back to back long weekends).On Monday we went to the Doon Heritage Crossroads, this historic village is set during 1914, a crossroads in Canadian history. The country was on the verge of war, and industry and mass production was beginning to affect small towns. People were beginning to travel more and not rely on local items, you could order clothes from the T. Eaton Co. catalogue.

This was the largest house at the site and was built by an Amish family in 1820, Peter Martin. It had additions added - it had three pumps for running water inside), including a dowdy house.

A view from the house into the garden waiting to be planted.

A small selection of preserves from the garden.Covered wagonTowns would have a weavery, although they were on their way out as mechanization was beginning to make it unprofitable for the cottage industry. (This is where you can tell I didn't have the camera as their was only one picture from this building.) I am not sure what this equipment is -can any one help me out with this. My guess is it was instead of a warping board.

The sign above the bridge tells us not to travel faster than a horses gait over the bridge.The tailor in many place s became the postmaster. At the repair shop where wheelbarrows were being made, we got to use stilts - a common childhood game. I immediately had to try them out since I use to play with them as a child. (What does that say about my childhood). Betsy got the hang of it but Ali didn't try.The blacksmith - whose items will be soon on sale at the gift shop.

Some sheep and kids. There were knitting baskets in all the houses.Thats it for the photos for now.

1 comment:

Betsy
said...

Too bad you didn't get to join me at "Lettuce Knit" in Toronto. Althought I did not get to meet the Yarn Harlot I did meet the owner. She was really nice and convinced me to buy lots of yarn. Yes.... my suitcase was over the official weight limit of 50 lbs after that little shopping spree.